5 Ways to Get More Out of Firefox

When it comes to choosing a browser, most people will site speed and ease of use as their top deciding factors. With that in mind, Mozilla Firefox remains a strong favorite for many savvy internet users. And while Firefox is great as-is, there are some simple tips and tricks that you can start using today to make your web experience that much more gratifying.

Here’s a look at five ways to make Firefox faster, more efficient, and infinitely cooler:

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are some of the easiest ways to shave time off your internet browsing. It may take you a little time to get comfortable using them, but once you do, you’ll appreciate spending time on the learning curve. Here are some of the most useful:

Shift + Spacebar – Page Up

Spacebar – Page Down

Ctrl + F – Find

Ctrl + T – New Tab

Ctrl + D – Bookmark Page

Ctrl + K – Go to Search Box

F5 – Reload

Ctrl + L – Go to Address Bar

Alt + Home – Go to Home Page

Create More Screen Space

Who wouldn’t want a little extra real estate on their screen given the opportunity? An easy way to maximize the amount of space you’re already working with is to make your icons smaller. Simply click on View, and then Toolbars. From there, you can pull up the Customize menu. Check the Use Small Icons box, and you’ve got more space.

Smarter Tab Navigation

Anyone that’s used to working with several tabs open can attest to the fact that all that scrolling and clicking can get tiresome. Instead of using your mouse to navigate between different open tabs, use some of these keyboard shortcuts instead:

Ctrl + Tab – rotate forward among open tabs

Ctrl + Shift + Tab – skip to the previous tab

Ctrl + [any number 1-9] – jumps you to a specific tab

Delete Individual Items from Your Address Bar History

Firefox automatically shows previous URLs that you’ve visited as you type in the address bar. It’s a great time saving option, but sometimes there are addresses that you don’t want to keep seeing over and over. In that case, head over to the address bar and start typing in a web address. The drop down menu will appear, listing the URLs of pages you’ve visited that begin with those letters. Using the down arrow, highlight the address you want to make disappear. Once you’re there, press the Delete key.

Add a Keyword to Your Bookmarks

Bookmarking a page makes it easy to navigate to websites you use often. Firefox let’s you make this process even simpler by allowing you to assign a keyword to your bookmarks. Right click on the bookmark, and then select Properties from the menu that appears. In the Keyword field, type in a short keyword you associate with this page. After that, you can simply type your keyword in the address bar, and it will take you directly to your bookmarked page.